Employment and Community First CHOICES Workforce QuILTSS Initiative Survey 2019: Year Two Report

Benefits are a key component of employee compensation packages. Though wages are often considered the primary issue of concern for any employee, benefits are also important to employees.  Looking at benefits that are offered and whether or not they are used by employees can demonstrate the value of a benefit for DSPs in an organization.

Organizations reported if they offered paid time off (not differentiating between sick leave and paid vacation), sick leave, paid vacation, and health benefits.  Organizations who could differentiate between part-time and full-time were asked to provide their paid time off, sick leave, paid vacation, and health insurance information for both part-time and full-time DSPs.  Organizations who were unable to differentiate between part-time and full-time were asked to report for all of their DSPs combined. Monetary amounts paid for paid leave options were reported by a small number of organizations, so interpret with caution.

Paid Time Off	PTO		Paid Sick Leave		Paid Vacation
	N	%	N	%	N	%
All DSPs	18	28	13	15%	13	23%
Part-Time	53	15	23	4%	23	9%
Full-Time	53	57	23	26%	23	30%

N = The number of organizations answering each question.

% = The percent of organizations out of the total who offered paid leave.

Note: Data for All DSPs combined were provided only by those organizations (n=18) who were unable to differentiate between part- and full-time DSPs or who did not answer the question about capacity to break their DSP data down in this manner.

Paid Time Off

Fifty-seven percent of the organizations who could differentiate between part-time and full-time offered paid time off (PTO) to full-time DSPs.  This means that these organizations did not distinguish between sick and vacation time.  On average, organizations who offered PTO to full-time DSPs spent $113,855 on this benefit across full-time DSPs.  Only 15% of organizations offered PTO (not differentiating between sick and vacation time) to part-time DSPs (see Table 6).  On average, organizations who offered PTO to part-time DSPs spent $23,841 on this benefit across part-time DSPs.  Twenty-eight percent of the organizations who could not differentiate between part-time and full-time DSPs offered PTO to all of their DSPs and spent, on average, $112,002. 

Paid Sick Leave

As seen in Table 6, 26% of organizations who could differentiate between part-time and full-time DSPs offered paid sick leave to full-time DSPs.  Of these organizations, the average amount spent on paid sick leave across full-time DSPs in 2019 was $21,508.  Only 4% of organizations offered paid sick leave to part-time DSPs.  Not enough organizations offered paid sick leave to part-time DSPs to compute an average amount spent per organization.  Fifteen percent of the organizations who could not differentiate between part-time and full-time DSPs offered paid sick leave to all of their DSPs and spent, on average, $13,784. 

Paid Vacation Time

Thirty percent of organizations who could differentiate between part-time and full-time DSPs offered paid vacation to their full-time DSPs.  Of these organizations, the average amount spent on paid vacation across full-time DSPs in 2019 was $59,570.  Only 9% of organizations offered paid vacation to part-time DSPs (see Table 6).  The one organization who offered paid vacation to part-time DSPs and answered the question spent $10,000 on paid vacation.  For organizations who could not differentiate between part-time and full-time DSPs, 23% offered paid vacation to all of their DSPs and spent an average amount of $11,656 on paid vacation time.

Health Insurance

As seen in Table 7, across the state, 81% of organizations who could differentiate between part-time and full-time DSPs offered health insurance to their full-time DSPs and only 21% offered health insurance to part-time DSPs.  Sixty-one percent of organizations who could not differentiate between part-time and full-time DSPs offered health insurance to all of their DSPs.  The average minimum number of hours DSPs had to work per week to be eligible for health insurance was 30.  Organizations reported that the average percent of DSPs enrolled in health insurance through their organization was 34%.  Organizations reported the average cost per month of health insurance for individual, two-person, and family coverage for both the organization and the DSP.

	Organization’s monthly health insurance premium contribution per DSP		Employee’s monthly health insurance premium contribution per DSP
Coverage	N	Average Cost	N	Average Cost
Individual	46	$338	45	$133
Two-person	39	$353	37	$469
Family	40	$424	41	$748

N = The number of organizations answering each question.

Average Cost = The average amount paid for the coverage option.

Organizations in the state paid an average of $338 per month for health insurance premium contribution per direct support employee for individual coverage.  Average cost for two-person coverage was $353 and $424 per direct support employee for family coverage.

The average employee’s contribution for monthly health insurance premium contribution per direct support employee for individual coverage was $133.  The monthly cost increased to $469 for two-person coverage and $748 per direct support employee for family coverage.